Cry Havoc
by CharmedSerenity
Summary: Sometimes one chooses for themselves, sometimes the choice is taken out of their hands. Alternate take on the final moments of Cry Wolf and a darker A.U of S2.
1. Prologue: Deal with the Devil

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the animated LoSH universe in any way, shape or form. I wish I did, but I don't.

**Author's Note:** I'll like to say a very big thank you to Kayegee for all the ideas, coaching and edits she has provided or is and will be providing for this collab-fic.

The pale-skinned, grey-haired man who was wearing dark trousers under what looked like a light green lab-coat only with mostly black shoulder-pads muttered to himself, the dim light glinting off his yellow glasses and he glanced around the room. His dark, heavily-lidded eyes scanned the table as he tried to preoccupy himself with the nanites he was currently working on.

A row of round liquid-filled tanks housing large, grotesque creatures stood near a table where beakers of a green liquid rested next to several petri dishes containing samples of skin, hair and blood. The place looked clean and modern much more than his previous compound, thanks to his suppliers. As such the place had nothing but the latest technology one could get on the black market.

Half-turning to look outside, his frown deepened on the thought of how he had been driven further and further from the civilization of the United Planets, not that he particularly minded the isolation. Even as a child he always preferred his own company over others. The planet he was on now was virtually uninhabited, being a ball of sand and rock with infertile soil. No-one else had wanted to settle here. It was one of the few boundaries the Science Police had no legislation over due to the fact the area was practically unknown to them, only a few people in the galaxy knew the existence of this place and Dr. Mar Londo was familiar with this place, thanks to one of his colleagues.

He had no choice since his mistake of turning to the Legion for help, a move that caused him to flee the jungle world as thanks to those teenagers, the United Planets and therefore the Science Police had turned their attention to Rawl, bringing it into their territory as the planet was an uninhabited wilderness, last time he checked he was on the United Planets' most wanted list. He was one of the very few humans to have achieved a top-priority alert, a thought that brought a wry smile to his lips.

As a result he had lost most of the surviving data on his experiments, whatever his son hadn't destroyed during his tantrum, on what he had been working on there. He would have to contact one of his colleagues to see if they could recover the basic files and in the meantime, he needed the living embodiment of that particular project back so he could fill in any gaps that were lost during the fire that broke out in the lab.

Londo frowned, going over the message from Neerg again in his head, something about a yet to be revealed benefactor had sounded promising and he had agreed to a meeting but where he felt most safe, in his latest compound thanks to those interfering "Legion Freaks" as the Science Police called them. As little as he thought of them, he couldn't help but agree with them on that statement due to their childish view on the universe, much like their idol and their preference for taking in metabeings or aliens that have an ability that easily outstripped ordinary humans.

Turning away from the window-screen with a sigh, he paced up and down the room deep in thought. Rumors from what other few colleagues he had left had been flying to and fro, ones about somebody who was capable of helping him reach his goal of what the universe should be like, one that they shared. Was this who had wanted to meet him?

Approaching footsteps behind him made the scientist spin around to see a taller alien, clad in black, yellow and red armour step out of the shadows and Londo took a step back.

"The so-called Imperiex, I presume"

"Doctor"

"And how may I help you?"

"I heard you have a...personal vendetta against the Legion."

"What's your point?"

"We have a common goal, we both know as long as the Legion exists, they pose a threat to us and by extension, the future of the universe"

The scientist remained silent, raising an eyebrow suspiciously yet waited for his visitor to continue.

"It was brought to my attention that you are one of the best geneticists of your era, I require...less free-thinking soldiers so I'm proposing an alliance with you, in doing so we secure the future."

Taking this in, Londo removed his glasses to clean them thoughtfully for a few seconds before replacing them. The offer was tempting, technology from the future would open new doors for his work and he had wanted to finish the work on his greatest creation for the last two or three years, this may help with that...after getting him away from the Legion that is.

"So you want my assistance in your plans, correct?"

"I would not have sought your expertise if I did not require it," Imperiex walked further up to him "And I do," he admired Londo still maintaining his prideful disposition as he moved closer to the man who barely reached past his chest. Obviously this wasn't the first time the good doctor dealt with beings with strength that easily outmatched his own.

"Hmm...you've come at the right time, as it so happens I've almost finished on a new branch of technology" Londo glanced at a table housing various robot parts, some with exposed circuitry and wires, a yellow headband lying in front of them "Remote controlled nanotechnology, I assume you're familiar with their function?"

"Yes, thanks to you."

"Good, perhaps with your help, I can upgrade them further?"

"An interesting proposition, I will provide you with whatever materials and technology you may need for your experiments, all I need is your cooperation in these matters, Doctor."

"You have yourself a deal" the scientist replied after a moment's pause, then the corner of his mouth twitched upwards into a smirk "Time to show those brats the wolf in the fold"


	2. Chapter 1: Sins of the Father

Some part of himself still couldn't believe it, in little as in three days he had killed his father in cold blood and had nearly killed his two best friends during his rampage which led to him being hunted down now by the group of young heroes he came to view as his family for the past two years.

Brin Londo also known as Timber Wolf knew it was now unsafe for him to be with normal society, he could not risk anyone else being near him. The monster inside him had grown much stronger and was beginning to override his tenacious will. It was then he came to a decision, instead of being arrested which in his view would just be a temporary solution he was heading for the one place where he couldn't hurt anyone else yet knew well enough to survive in.

As the familiar compound he had once called home came into view, Brin effortlessly leapt over the high walls and once on the other side, headed inside. The place was abandoned as far as he knew, since the United Planets had claimed Rawl as one of their newer territories, who knew where his father had been these past two years.

The first room he found himself drawn to was one looking like a large cell, the murky walls were decorated with long claw-marks in rows of four along with filth that accumulated due to the many years of neglect. The doorway had a deactivated light-panel designed to hold him in after he destroyed the first metal bars his father put in.

His gaze lingered towards the door, only it was now lying against the opposite wall. There were two large dents in it as if it had been struck with incredible force from something inside the room. Inside the cell, a musty mattress lay in one corner with a messily arranged mould-infested blanket and pillow on top of it while a tray holding a dirty plate and broken cup sat in the middle of the floor.

Brin fought not to snarl, remembering the downgrade in sleeping quarters. It was a couple of weeks after his thirteenth birthday, his first official one as a teenager and this was what he got. Locked up every night following the painful experiments like he was nothing more than an animal, it was the first time Brin felt worthless to his father that there was something wrong with him and his father saw it and sought to improve on him.

How his life had changed because of the cruel whims of one man, the man who he was supposed to love and look up to for guidance, Brin mused to himself.

He didn't regret his career in super-heroing, even though the Legion of Superheroes were hunting him down, he still owed a debt to them for helping him regain his sanity. To know that he would violate their rules in such a way felt like a fully powered Kryptonian punched him in the gut, it hurt him as he thought what could have been if he grew up to be a normal kid. Would he have chosen to be a chef like he wanted to be when he was younger or picked a different path?

Leaving that room behind with a disgusted stare, he continued wandering the corridors and shuddered. Not much had changed the place still felt cold and sterile with very little light, the lab's interior managed to creep him out now as it had done when he was younger but maybe that was more to do with what had happened here.

A low growl escaped him, with his ears flicking back. He turned his head to a dusty table with a broken computer hooked up to it, Brin remembered that room well.

_He was barely into his teens manacled to a metal table with a breathing mask over his mouth and nose as his father muttered and checked the readings on the computer hooked up to the child. The boy had a vacant expression on his face as the anaesthetic started to hiss slowly through the mask and into his lungs._

Shaking the memory away he started walking slowly across the main area before pausing, glancing down the corridor where he knew the main genetics laboratory had been and found himself drifting over to it. Traces of old lingering scents from the mutated animals still clinging to their cages along with the stink of burnt metal hit his nose as he looked around. The room was still a burnt-out wreck and he stepped back as he started to remember what had happened, how it felt good to physically let his father know what he had felt about the constant experiments.

_'You'll never be able to control yourself Brin,'_

Picking up a piece of glass from a smashed computer screen, Brin looked at his faded reflection with a snort of disgust.

_'Well I proved him right,'_

Slipping further into the room, he moved to run his fingers along the old claw-marks on the computer screen and the broken console he punched through. A faint coppery smell drawing his attention to a dried dark brown stain on the floor, his nose told him it was the old, faded scent of his father.

Closing his eyes, Brin gasped as his hand shot up to his temple, he could still feel the older man's last, haunting scream echoing around his head. As much as he hated the man he only grudgingly referred to as 'father', it still made him sick to his stomach when he heard that wet gurgle before his life was snuffed out by his hands. He vaguely remembered being sick when he came to his senses after that incident when the Science Police caught him.

Continuing his trek he entered a cleaner-looking hallway, the sound of his steps echoing off the walls helped distract him from the memories. As he inhaled through his nostrils, he picked up a new but familiar scent and he froze in shock, no...no he must be going crazy. There's no way his father could be alive, could it?

Using his nose to guide him, it took Brin a few moments to locate just where the scent was coming from before running towards one of his father's secondary laboratories. It couldn't be true but at the same time, his nose had never lied to him before and the scent was recent.

Some part of him wanting answers while the other part reasoning that he's just imagining things, Brin smashed the doors clean off their frames and skidded into the room. It felt therapeutic in a way to destroy any lingering reminder of that horrible place he thought of as 'home' for the remainder of his childhood.

The rustle of cloth met his ears as an all-too familiar figure rose from his seat at a computer console and stepped into the light.

"You always _did_ have a flare for the dramatics..."

Brin's first response was to stare slack-jawed in stunned silence before he blinked a few times to make sure this wasn't a hallucination or a hologram. No, it couldn't be..he was certain that back on Heisenberg-7, he had smelt everything...his enhanced senses gave him a clear view on what occurred that fateful day. Every part of him knew the man standing in front of him shouldn't be here, Brin took a few cautious steps forward and stared in shock and horror as his father seemingly dissolved without another word. He moved to examine the green, smoking puddle as the hauntingly familiar voice spoke up again from somewhere else in the room.

"Quite a lovely piece of work isn't it? A clone, a combination of my DNA, synthetic tissue and nanites."

Growling in frustration, Brin tried to pinpoint where the voice was coming from until he came to the conclusion his father was using an intercom from a far-off location.

"_Show yourself! Give me some sprocking answers and stop playing games!_" Brin's booming voice echoed off the walls, but there was no answer

Out of the corner of his eye he suddenly saw a flash of blue light that caught his attention as he spun around to see another copy of the older man appear, looking as self-satisfied as ever. His anger grew at that familiar mocking smirk, his father had made him look like a murderer but how and more importantly...why?

"Patience son, you'll get your answers in a moment" Doctor Londo moved past the young man to tap away at a computer, an image of tiny spider-like robots appearing on the screen "I decided to delve into robotics and recently created a new generation of advanced long-range nanotechnology. They're durable enough to travel through the farthest regions of space..."

Something clicked in Brin's mind as all the pieces fell into place. His golden eyes widened at the revelation before he lunged, slamming his father's back up against the computer and the screen smashed from the impact. Londo grunted in pain as the hot glass dug deeply into his back, drawing blood. Giving Brin some satisfaction before replying with a snarl.

"You used them on _me_, didn't you? That explains the headaches and black-outs I've been having lately but why would you use them to make me into a _murderer?_"

"Because I wanted you back!" Londo gasped out, the burning glass from his computer screen digging deeper into his back as the control band on his head glowed, several of his newest creations teleporting in but remaining motionless and waiting for further orders.

The room suddenly became silent with the occasional crackle of electricity coming from the shattered screen. Unsure of how to take that reply, Brin slowly released his grip on his father and stepped back he turned away so his father couldn't see the sudden confusion and hurt in his eyes.

"Neerg contacted me, told me you hacked into his computer. I'm presuming you saw the files he stole" Londo winced slightly as he stepped forward to gently lay one hand on his son's shoulder, Brin didn't even react as he was still trying to digest this information.

His father continued without skipping a beat. "You want to be in control...what am I saying? Of course you do, why else would you have come to the place where you were reborn? I hope you will forgive me in time, I only had your best interests in mind, son. If you had stayed I would have-"

"_Why?_ So I can be your little guinea pig again?" Brin interrupted as he slapped his father's hand off his shoulder.

"Don't you _care_ or realise what you put me through? You turned me into a _monster_ and worse yet you showed it to everyone! Even to those I cared for the most!" he yelled

He could feel his blood pounding in his ears while his chest was heaving from the outburst, he gave a smouldering glare at his shocked father. The room was in silence again before Brin gave a derisive chuckle,

"Heh, what am I saying? Of course you don't, that's it isn't it? You don't care how many people's lives are ruined just as long as you get what you want. If only Mom could see you now..."

The older man, at first was taken aback by his son's fury before a rare look of anger crossed Londo's face at the mention of his deceased wife, with a click of his fingers the Bio-Golems lurched into life as Brin looked into the glowing magenta eyes of the hulking monsters lumbering towards him. He couldn't help but smirk at this.

"Truth hurts, doesn't it _Dad?_"

Dr. Londo's anger dissolved into his normal, mocking sneer the moment a fist impacted against Brin's head followed by another, the power of the creature's strikes started to drive him to the floor as he tried to defend himself. A mix of anger and sheer hatred both at the beating and the blatant betrayal of his surviving parent began to surface. No, he wasn't about to do this...he wasn't about to let his father win.

"You want 'truth', boy? Why don't you start by showing me your true face."

He could hear his father's chilling voice as the assault continued, one of the monsters kicked him hard in the ribs pushing him to his side. He curled up in a fetal position with his arms covering his head, Brin needed something to distract himself, anything to stop him from focusing on the pounding in his head.

Unfortunately it didn't help that he could hear the pounding in his heart intensify a hundred-fold as another migraine kicked in and he felt his humanity swallowed up by the madness. A feral snarl escaped his lips as the familiar pain of his transformations began to emerge. Some part of him was dimly aware of what was going on yet found himself unable to stop himself, it was like watching a horrific event unfold but remaining powerless to stop it.

Timber Wolf roared as he stopped one of the Bio-Golem's kicks aimed at his stomach, he rose as he threw the golem at some of its compatriots. He grabbed another one by the throat and flung it away, ignoring the booming crash it made. He sunk his fangs into another one as it grabbed him from behind in a clumsy choke-hold and gave a hard kick to the midsection to another one who made the stupid decision of charging at him. He lifted up the golem who was behind him and threw it towards his father who wisely moved away from the carnage.

Doctor Londo watched in awe and pride as he saw the beast within his son unleashed, he witnessed Timber Wolf brutally rip open the back of a fallen Bio-Golem. Near him was the mangled, lifeless bodies of two of its less-fortunate allies, one with its arm ripped right out of its socket and the other with a badly broken leg and neck.

He observed that his son was so caught up in his rage that he neglected to take notice of three Bio-Golems that set to avenge their fallen comrades. Londo was curious as to how his son would deal with these threats when a flash of green light made him spin around.

"_You!_" he spat in outrage.

"What the sprock, he's _alive?_" Kell asked in disbelief.

Timber Wolf turned around as he noticed one or two of his attackers were suddenly encased in green crystal, he abandoned his now-dead quarry to dig his claws deep into the next Bio-Golem's midsection with a savage roar. He raised his claws to dismember the creature until his attention turned to the newcomers standing in the main doorway and he dropped onto all fours with a warning growl at the interlopers.

"Timber Wolf is coming with us _Doctor_, and you've got a lot of explaining to do at the Science Police Headquarters. I'm sure Commissioner Norg is looking forward to seeing us drag your sorry self into his office." Cosmic Boy spoke as he raised a magnetically charged hand.

Londo chuckled darkly. "Ah you children amuse me so...you think you can intimidate me with idle threats like that? Fine, I'll humour you just to show you that I'm not an entirely _unreasonable_ man."

With that Doctor Londo turned to his feral son.

"What say you, Brin? Do you want to go with these nice people?"

Timber Wolf's growling became louder as saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth, he had a feeling he knew them but that was quickly pushed aside as the rage took over again and with a roar he was on the attack. His attention drawn to the only female in the group for some reason.

The surviving creatures who had previously been assaulting him turned their attention to the rest of the group and with the sounds of combat going on around him. Timber Wolf lashed out at his chosen target to have his claws pass right through her like she was a ghost. He snarled, one clawed hand lashing hard and fast the second she no longer looked transparent.

"Please Brin. You have to choose, you..." she never finished her plea as a blow sent her flying backwards and into a wall.

As he charged at the heavily stunned girl with one clawed hand raised he prepared himself to finish the job he felt something in his mind scream out _'No!'_.

He paused and his expression changed to something akin to curiosity, his head tilted to one side. Why was he starting to feel like this? What was stopping him from continuing his assault?

"_Get away from her!_"

A flash of red caught his attention and before he had time to react the enraged-looking giant bore down on him as he rushed to the girl's defence. A massive fist slamming into his right side, Timber Wolf heard a loud cracking noise accompany the sudden explosion of pain in one side of his body. The beast roared as he was sent sailing into a wall crashing right through it.

With his torso now awash with pain Timber Wolf slumped into a heap and his body shrank back to his normal height with an automatic shudder, he coughed up dark blood before losing consciousness. Colossal Boy backed away, his dark eyes wide with shock and his hands held up in front of his chest, he couldn't believe he had actually struck a teammate with that much force and silently stared into the next room. He had just wanted to knock him away from Phantom Girl before she could get hurt, that was all.

Chameleon Boy felt his jaw drop, then a low moan caught his attention and the _"What the sprock did you do that for?"_ died before he could spit it out. The young Durlan darted over to Tinya, the girl was now opening her eyes as her fingers moved to press lightly against her forehead.

The other Legionnaires fought off the Bio-Golems, but neglected to notice two of Londo's creations teleporting in beside Brin's prone form. One of them grabbed the belt from the boy's waist and forcibly ripped it off while the other one grabbed his right arm and with some effort, yanked the gold ring off his middle finger.

Each of them carefully lifting the unconscious Legionaire by an arm as he sagged in their grip, his head was lowered as some droplets of blood fell from his mouth onto the floor just as his team-mates turned their attention towards him.

"_Everybody stand back!_" Sun Boy yelled as fire danced around his hands.

With the revelation of Londo's deception, this changed the situation and Timber Wolf was still one of them. Sun Boy thrust his arms forward as a torrent of fire melted through the wall where a Bio-Golem stood a moment ago before being teleported out.

As quickly as they had come however, the two Bio-Golems simply vanished in flashes of light along with their prisoner as the rest of Doctor Londo's creations, even those lying motionless on the floor, began to vanish from the room. Until only the Legionnaires and the renegade scientist himself remained in the room. Tinya had to be held back by Chameleon Boy and Sun Boy as she screamed, watching her best friend being taken away from them.

"Nonononono! BRIN!"

Hearing the scream and the choked sobs, Cosmic Boy winced and turned away, then bit his lower lip as he found himself looking straight at Tinya. The girl just staring at the spot the youth had been in until a second ago and her grey eyes were wide and both hands over her mouth, her shoulders shaking.

Before they could turn their attention to him, the doctor smirked then seemingly melted away as the Legionnaires stepped back in startled horror. A holo-projector emerged from the goo and activated, the real Londo's face appearing on the screen looking as smug as ever.

"Greetings, Legion of Superheroes. I believe a thank you is in order, I could have never pulled this off without your help"

With that, the device sparked and self-destructed internally, falling into the puddle of goo with a muted sound of metal meeting metal. For a few moments, no-one moved until Cosmic Boy raised his hand and a purple aura surrounding the discarded ring and belt flew into his hands.

Colossal Boy picked up the destroyed device, hoping there's some evidence they could use to find their now-missing comrade.

"Let's go, there's nothing more we can do here" his next order was quiet yet firm.

"But we need to go after Brin," Tinya turned on him with defiance in her eyes.

"We will but we can do more for him if we wait until our scientists return from their missions. That way we'll organise a search party and try to find him." Cosmic Boy explained.

Realising that there was nothing left to do the remaining Legionnaires solemnly filed out of the room. Phantom Girl and Cosmic Boy were the last ones inside, Tinya was staring at the hole where her best friend was not too long ago. Uncomfortable with the silence and the guilt gnawing in his gut, Cosmic Boy tried to speak.

"Tinya, I-"

"If _anything_ happens to him Rokk, I will _never_ forgive you." Phantom Girl said coldly.

With one last glare of contempt, Phantom Girl turned on her heel and a swish of her cape she stalked out of the room.

Cosmic Boy lowered his head and heaved a sigh as he turned to leave, with one last look over his shoulder at the deserted lab where he lost a teammate he wondered if he could live with himself if anything happened to him.


	3. Chapter 2: Prodigal Son

Dr. Londo shifted his weight, his arms behind his back as he barely glanced at the motionless Bio-Golems now lying scattered around the floor, there were some that were dead or unconscious though he didn't particularly care. He turned his attention to the only two who had teleported in still standing then moved to examine his prize.

He noticed a few drops of red blood between Brin's feet then gently grasped his son's lower jaw in one hand and lifted his head up to see a thin rivulet of dark blood running down the youth's chin and staining his sleeve.

Scowling, the older man pried his son's eyelids open one after the other and noticed that his scarlet pupils were dilated, indicating a concussion. His control band glowed as the two Bio-Golems lurched into life again then they slowly and carefully carried Brin inside the makeshift operating theatre.

Following them into the room, the older man focused on making his creations gently lay Brin on a medical table before they lurched out of the room. Dr. Londo started removing his son's boots and gloves then carelessly tossed them to one side.

Londo got a pair of medical scissors from a small table adjacent to his patient and carefully positioned them so the blades were above and below the top half. He cut the fabric straight down the middle, only stopping when he got to the boy's waist where he cut across it before moving to cut the sleeves open and put the scissors to one side then working to pull the top half free of Brin's body with some effort.

Pausing when that was done he scowled, even though the boy's fur hid most of the damage well his right side looked almost distorted and Londo carefully prodded both sides of the rib-cage, returning to the lower ribs more than once.

The examination confirmed his suspicion that his ribs were broken and judging by the blood trickling from Brin's mouth, at least one of the fragments was in his lung. He fetched a surgical blanket from the drawers near the small table and draped it over his son, making sure the hole was above the area they needed to operate on.

He walked over to the end of the table and gently pulled the remaining material that covered Brin's legs until it slid off. After he removed the gaudy costume, Dr. Londo bunched the ruined outfit into a ball then calmly disposed of it in the nearby refuse container, the gloves and boots quickly followed it.

Pulling his intercom out of one of his hip pockets he spoke into it "Karth, Rel, Qian. Can you report to the infirmary immediately, please?"

"Sure thing, Doc. Be right with you" the reply crackled over the comm-piece.

His only reaction was to raise an eyebrow in annoyance. He really needed to talk to the younger scientist, Dr. Karth about that..._nickname_. While he waited for the three doctors to enter he started placing the equipment necessary for the surgery on the small table.

The three doctors that entered the room looked between the ages of 20-30, the eldest was a Rimborine by the name of Dr. En Rel who had a tall but stocky build. He had dark blond hair pulled into a loose ponytail, had tan skin and dull grey eyes that were obscured by a set of glasses not unlike Dr. Londo's except rounder.

A shorter and thinner man by the name of Dr. Mateo Karth who was originally born on Zuun but grew up in Xanthu, had short, messy dark brown hair and a ring goatee, his unusually bright violet eyes stood out against his beige skin.

Bringing up the rear was the only female of the group, Dr. Rhea Qian who was from Myrnah. She was only a fraction shorter than Dr. Karth and had dark skin with hazel eyes and shoulder-length black hair.

Dr. Londo had personally trained these doctors who had shared his view on a better future through genetic engineering, they had proven their loyalty in his eyes and were competent enough to carry out his tasks with efficiency. As much as their personality traits annoyed him at times he knew the value of allies. After news broke out of his illicit activities thanks to the Legion, many scientists turned on him, dismissing his work as barbaric and the works of a sadist. He mentally scoffed at that thought, when it came to science how can you discover new possibilities if you don't push past the limits?

With a short nod of acknowledgement, the doctors entered the room to begin their preparations. Dr. Londo had started double checking the equipment to see if they were in working order, Dr. Qian placed a mask over Brin's mouth and nose to distribute a regular supply of both anaesthesia and oxygen at the mere flick of a button. A wireless ring-like device sat on one finger so his blood-oxygen levels could be observed. Finally satisfied with the equipment's condition, Londo glanced at the newcomers as he handed out assignments.

"Rel get a bio-scanner and set it to scan internally for further injuries and bleeding before preparing to mark the area for the incisions. Qian prepare the bio-monitors and Karth, I need you to shave the area and apply this specialised iodine when you're done."

After Londo handed Karth the small spray, the three younger scientists got to work. Dr. Londo turned off the main lights and activated the overhead light-sets before locking the door so there were no interruptions.

"When you're finished please deactivate your intercoms, they will interfere with some of the equipment in the room."

The doctors obliged after their respective tasks were completed. Everything was ready within a few minutes and a surgical light was adjusted to show the marks where the cuts were meant to be made.

"Rel, you're to assist me. Qian, Karth keep checking the readings from the bio-monitors inform me of any changes" the senior scientist picked up a laser scalpel and activated it, the glowing pink blade humming into life before he lowered it towards his son's sternum and carefully drew the blade to the centre of his abdomen.

Londo quickly inserted the retractor as he and Rel bent over Brin while their gloved hands gently reached over to pull loose fragments of bone imbedded in the muscle then placing them in a kidney dish that Dr. Londo placed earlier. Londo grabbed the forceps to start pulling the larger and more stubborn bone fragments from the boy's lower lung.

"Grife, no wonder he was so messed up inside" Rel muttered as he looked one fragment over, it was larger than a normal human rib and jagged in appearance.

Londo glanced at the other man as he carefully used a pair of tweezers on a bone fragment imbedded inside the liver before a sudden jerk of the body caused him to pull out with a start, his head quickly turned to the monitors when they started to beep frantically, movement from the table caught his eye as he saw Brin's fingers starting to twitch there was a low moan coming from the boy drew the attention of the other doctors.

Karth hissed in alarm at the erratic beeping of the heart monitor and half-turning to the other three "He's waking up!"

Rel stepped back as Brin began to thrash around his moans became louder as he began crying out in pain, fresh blood trickling from his mouth "_Damn it_, didn't you use enough of the anaesthetic!?"

Karth glanced at the other acting surgeon "Londo told me that we have to hold back on how much we sedate him, kid's got a concussion!"

Qian looked concerned as she watched everything unfold "We have to do _something!_ He's making his condition worse!"

As Rel tried to pin Brin down Karth quickly moved over to assist him, hissing at Londo "_Do we have restraints!?_"

"_Oh shit!_" Karth cried.

Brin's eyes shot open, he snarled as he grabbed Karth by the arm and pulled on it violently, almost dislocating it. Alerted by Karth's screams, Rel grabbed the boy's arm trying to pry it loose and glared at the elder scientist.

"_Damn it Londo! Don't just stand there do something!_"

Dr. Londo turned his attention to the other man trying tenaciously to pull his arm from the werewolf, having been observing the situation in silence and turned to Qian "Increase the dosage to maximum,"

Qian glanced at the two men wrestling with the frantic teenager before turning her attention back to Londo "_What!?_ Are you sure about this?"

Londo frowned, commenting with some urgency "Yes, the boy's healing factor has already dealt with the concussion with enough time to purge the sedative. _Obviously_ playing it safe didn't work so we must use more drastic measures."

Qian scowled, glancing at the son then the father "Yes...but if we increase the dosage there's a chance he could end up being brain damaged or worse."

Londo paused for a moment as he glanced at Rel and Karth who were struggling with pinning down his son, the screaming teenager looked just about ready to throw them clear across the room. His voice became firm.

"That's a risk we're going to have to take, if we don't do anything chances are he could die from internal hemorrhaging because I _still_ haven't removed all the bone fragments to prevent _that_ from happening!"

Qian looked uncertain but realised they don't have much of a choice, nodded her consent with a sigh "Alright," then she moved briskly across the room to increase the amount of anaesthetic on the struggling boy.

Brin snarled as he tried to fight off the two scientists, but as the anaesthesia started to hiss through his mask and his grip on the scientists slackened as he slowly faded back into unconsciousness, the two doctors who previously fought him with as much ferocity as he did with them, gently pushed him back down onto the table.

The retractor barely held and the blanket that was draped over him was pulled askew, covered with blood and no longer the light blue colour. After that debacle Londo sighed as he wiped his brow with a nearby towel, realigned the retractor and straightened up the surgical blanket. The other doctors slowly calmed down as they resumed their posts.

Karth started rubbing his now sore arm, he gave Londo a brief glare while he straightened his glasses that were knocked askew during the brief scuffle, "About time...thought he was gonna rip my arm off, kid's got a killer grip."

Rel just glared at Londo while rubbing his shoulder "How the _hell_ could you have been so calm when we had to deal with your son going _berserk!?_"

Londo just gave Rel a nonchalant look, "Years of practice,"

He moved to continue working and carefully pulled the last of the bone fragments out, adding it to the others in the kidney dish. Turning to the other three, he gave a single nod.

"That will be all, gentlemen. Qian, I'll need some help with bandaging him up"

Then Londo turned his attention back to Brin as the two men left hesitantly, they weren't particularly thrilled with having the senior doctor and their female friend alone in the room with a feral teenager despite the fact he was still unconscious.

Londo turned his attention to prepping the equipment needed to stitch the incisions back up with a set of sutures designed to dissolve harmlessly into Brin's skin after his healing factor starts repairing the severed tendons, muscles and blood-vessels. It prevented the need for further post-operative treatment.

When he had finished he noticed the swelling and the bruising starting to fade on the boy's chest and abdomen by his estimate the incision would heal in under fifteen hours but for the bones to heal properly he needed at least a further fortnight for his bones to set properly. He placed a special form of padded bandage on Brin's side to protect the four ribs that still need to heal from the break.

After she had finished putting the used equipment inside the adjacent room to be cleaned and disinfected by the maintenance droids Qian held Brin up while Londo swathed the bandages around the boy's torso then placed a ring from the table around Brin's right arm and tightened it so a vein started to appear through his pelt.

"Thank you for your assistance Qian, I can handle things from here."

She glanced at him then nodded and left the room in a brisk walk leaving Dr. Londo alone with his son. After the surgery was completed and the more sensitive equipment was taken away, Londo reactivated his intercom. He pulled out a petri dish from a pocket, his control band glowing as a grey-coloured stream poured out of Brin's ear and into the container.

With that finished, Londo moved to remove a short syringe from an unlocked drawer and injected the seemingly moving steel-grey contents into his son's arm. He then removed the arm-ring, put the first petri dish in the drawer and removed a small canister from his pocket.

Walking over to the table, he gently turned Brin's head so one ear was facing him then opened the container and slowly poured the new batch of mind-controlling nanites Imperiex had helped him upgrade into the boy's ear canal.

Stepping back, Londo frowned as twin flashes of light came from behind him and he turned to see his latest ally and one other teleport in. A yellow-skinned being with no visible lips giving it a grotesque looking grin, the most distinguishing thing about this creature was the large red dot on its forehead.

"A Dominator?"

"This is Xylon, he's one of the Dominators' top researchers specialising in genetic engineering. His research helped produce many fine super-soldiers across the galaxy in this century, many galactic warlords turn to him for advice on how to genetically enhance their soldiers for combat."

The Dominator glanced around then moved to circle Brin with interest.

"What exactly did you usssse to activate the boy'ssss metagene, human?" Xylon rasped.

"Zuunium radiation, combined with a serum I perfected." Londo explained while he eyed Xylon with some wariness.

"What kind of sssserum did you usssse?" Xylon inquired.

"I apologise, but that information is _classified_," Dr. Londo replied with a sneer.

"Wassss the metagene inherited or an anomaly?" he suddenly inquired.

"Pardon?"

"Did the boy inherit the metagene from hissss parentssss or wassss it just a mutation within the boy'ssss geneticssss?" Xylon clarified.

Dr. Londo paused for a minute, trying to remember the numerous notes he took on his son during the experiments he conducted on him.

"It was a mutation," he said finally, "I wanted to test out ways of activating the metagene in humans, when I was a boy I witnessed men and women entering the Zuunium mines and only a few came out alive but possessing grotesque mutations due to prolonged Zuunium exposure with minimal protection. I had a feeling that Zuunium, when refined, could help activate the dormant metagene through _other_ artificial means instead of waiting for nature to take its course." he replied.

The Dominator nodded thoughtfully and continued examining the room as if looking for any samples of Brin's DNA to use in his own research. Dr. Londo smirked at this attempt, he made sure all used equipment were disposed of either in the incinerator or washed and disinfected by the droids in the next room, the remaining blood had plenty of time to dry up making the attempt to gather genetic evidence close to impossible. After many years in this industry, Londo was wise in not giving up his secrets of success so easily.

Waiting until Londo had turned his attention back to him, Imperiex spoke up "I require a report, Doctor and what happened to the boy?"

"There were unforeseen circumstances which led to his current state, however we can turn this into our advantage...my holo-projector caught footage of Brin's encounters with my other clones and the Legion acted almost exactly as I predicted, there were a few who were convinced of his innocence but most of them turned on him."

Dr. Londo allowed himself a pause as he took off and started polishing the flecks of blood off his glasses meticulously with a piece of cloth before continuing.

"It is my theory that after your attack on their headquarters a few weeks ago lead to them being on edge for further attacks. There was a young man with enlarging powers...according to your files that you acquired from the Legion's super computer, his name is Gim Allon also known as Colossal Boy. He landed a hit that ended up breaking four of Brin's lower ribs while in his transformed state and caused internal injuries. Thankfully we were able to tend to all of them and he should heal fast enough."

"How long is the recovery time?" Imperiex asked.

"My best guess is a fortnight at least," Dr. Londo replied nonchalantly, satisfied with his glasses' cleanliness he placed them back on and placed his arms behind his back.

"And the nanites?"

"I've just implanted both sets. Now it's just a question of me regaining his trust, which given his team-mate's actions against him will help speed up the process,"

Imperiex nodded briefly then glanced at the unconscious form of the young man "I hope he will be ready to take on my enemies soon, Doctor. For now we take our leave I want you to keep me posted on your progress...how long do you think until the weapon is ready?"

"In terms of _'trust'_ it's hard to say, I won't deny there's still lingering animosity between us but with the nanites and the holo-projector's assistance it shouldn't take long in convincing him that the Legion have turned their backs on him."

"I need to know how _long_, not get another long-winded explanation," Imperiex growled.

"Get back to me in 2-3 months," Dr. Londo replied with a sigh.

Imperiex nodded, "Come, Xylon...I need your assistance with our master plan,"

When nobody was looking Xylon pulled a few strands of hair from the boy's head and he stepped away from Brin, the Dominator gave Londo a brief nod of acknowledgement and both visitors had teleported out of the room a few seconds later.

After a brief moment of silence Londo removed the boy's mask and quickly turned off the anaesthetic. He activated his control band, the door slid open as two Bio-Golems entered the room with a floating gurney. They carefully placed the sedated Brin on there and slowly strode out of the room with their passenger.

Left alone in the operating theatre, Londo leaned on the table and allowed himself a smile. He felt satisfied with himself, despite a few missteps everything was falling into place. The biggest triumph in his view would be to have his son's faith in him restored so they can help usher in a new world order, as father and son.

* * *

Golden eyes opened slowly as Brin gingerly sat up, a flicker of green material indicating he was now in a medical gown, one sleeve pushed back to accommodate the IV tube running into his arm as his gaze travelled around the room, his eyes widening slightly and his breathing starting to quicken on seeing one or two pieces of medical equipment nearby, the bio-monitor next to his bed flashing the current status of his vitals at him.

He glanced down at the single square-shaped patch of removable circuitry over where he knew his heart was, his gaze followed the thin wire attached to a heart monitor nearby. He slowly placed a hand on his temple and felt more circuitry under something soft and padded, his fingers brushed over the middle where it was covered by a small amount of plexiglass.

_'Where the sprock am I?'_ he wondered.

Sitting up further so he could try to get his thoughts together, he winced with a hiss as he felt a stabbing pain from the centre of his stomach spread up to the middle of his chest and back. He flopped back against the pillows with a gasp. Unfortunately the spasm caused a coughing fit to begin, causing him to grimace as the pain flared up again in the same region.

Feeling drained from the short coughing fit, his hand gently moved to where the pain had flared up and he frowned. It felt like some kind of padding underneath what he was wearing and he sat up to grab at the hem of his gown, growling as the pain kicked in again then pulled the material back to reveal bandages neatly wrapped around his torso.

Continuing to look around the room as if hoping to get some answers to what had happened, Brin's attention landed on the plate of sandwiches left on the attached table in front of him. His stomach gave a low growl, reminding him that he needed to eat since he hadn't had any food for God knows how long and carefully reached out to pick one up, sniffing it as he had some idea who was behind all this.

It didn't smell suspicious yet he opened it a bit, running his tongue lightly over the filling and took a small bite of the actual bread to sample it warily. Hunger suddenly got the better of him and he started to eat.

After he had finished the last sandwich, Brin yawned a little still groggy and leant back gingerly against the pillows, his head drooped and his eyes slowly closed due to the sedatives still lingering in his body. He rolled onto his left side as he started wondering about his unusual predicament.

* * *

The sound of the automatic door swishing open caught his attention after Brin entered REM and his eyes slowly opened. Waiting until the random dots and fuzziness faded in his eyes his gaze fell on the lone figure standing in front of the door.

"_YOU!_" he snarled, sitting bolt upright then wincing as another stab of pain took hold, he doubled over and grasped his side with a groan.

Walking over to the bed Londo shook his head as a concerned look crossed his face, one hand moving to hover over Brin's shoulder before he withdrew it taking note of the venomous glare Brin gave him.

"I wouldn't get up so hastily if I were you, son. Your ribs were broken while you were transformed and when you reverted back to your normal state the bone fragments were still large enough to cause significant damage to your organs. You were in surgery for a while and we were fortunate we got to you before any permanent damage was done."

"Lucky me," Brin grumbled sarcastically.

The older man ignored his son's snide comment and withdrew what looked like a small holo-projector from his hip pocket and moved to sit in a chair next to his son.

"Though it was rather...difficult thanks to your previous enhancements to keep you under sedation during the procedure. We ended up having to give you enough anaesthesia to keep a Lightning Beast unconscious for a day."

Brin frowned, not recalling how he had ended up with such injuries due to the previous concussion and being swallowed up by his feral side.

"What happened?"

His father looked at him concerned, "You don't remember? The Legion attacked you even after you've proven your innocence"

Brin let out a soft snort of laughter, "Nice try old man, but they wouldn't...you're lying"

Dr. Londo sighed wearily, "I knew you were going to say something like that, perhaps seeing it for yourself will convince you"

As his father activated the holo-projector, Brin's gaze swung to the footage of the battle he felt revulsion upon seeing himself hitting Tinya so hard that she was knocked unconscious and charging at her with the intent to finish the job. But he paused...staring at the girl confused over what to do, only for Colossal Boy who took advantage of his distraction and smashed him through a wall.

Brin's ears lowered at the sound of the impact, he didn't notice his father leaving the room as his full attention was focused on the holographic screen. He replayed the scene for hours trying to figure out what had happened until he finally turned it off and placed his head in his hands, feeling ashamed and disgusted with himself.

_'What the hell is wrong with me!?'_


	4. Chapter 3: Chain Reaction

It had been several hours since the small group of Legionnaires hunting down Timber Wolf had returned to their mobile base. The massive ship hung above the small blue and green planet, deceptively quiet and still among the veil of stars.

In the distance, something moved then slowly jetted forward as a smaller ship came into view, the quartet of what appeared to be young men of various physical appearances aboard the vessel talking among themselves like they were glad to be coming home.

"Did you see the Dominators' faces when I _fried_ their engines? They'll be drifting through space for a week, if they're _lucky!_" Lightning Lad chuckled and glanced back at the other three as they left the Legion cruiser.

"Guys" Bouncing Boy suddenly chipped in, pointing to where a figure in a familiar white and black costume hovered in front of the ship, like she was waiting for them "We got a welcoming committee"

The quartet stopped right in front of their team-mate, exchanging concerned glances on noticing the look in her eyes.

"Tinya, what's wrong?" Bouncing Boy asked with a concerned frown.

"...Brin's gone" she replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

"What?" Garth narrowed his eyes, his body tensing.

"You better tell us the _whole_ story" Superman added quickly,

"While you were off fighting, it looked like Brin murdered his father had at the Interplanetary Federation of Scientists convention and at his trial, Cosmic Boy suddenly seemed determined to stick to the rules without even stopping to consider something was off." Phantom Girl had to pause and wait for her anger to abate.

"Cham and I distracted the others so he could get away helped Brin get to the murder scene hoping he could find something to prove his innocence...but he realised he did do it and freaked out...he fled the scene again." the young woman paused for a moment, biting her bottom lip before continuing.

"We met up with the others and tracked him to Rawl where it turns out the whole thing was part of the old man's plan to get his sprocking hands on Brin and he actually succeeded..."

Phantom Girl turned away so the men couldn't see the tears in her eyes, Bouncing Boy wasn't fooled however and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before holding her in an embrace. Hoping this would provide her with some comfort over what was quite a traumatising day for her.

Lightning Lad looked taken aback for a few seconds then his eyes narrowed and he flew straight past her, his eye and scar were illuminated in a fierce white glow as sparks danced around his body.

Bouncing Boy winced, guessing exactly where the other youth was going, his eyes widened as realisation hit him. He gently pushed Phantom Girl towards Superman before running off leaving three confused Legionnaires in his wake.

"Where are you going?" Brainiac-5 asked.

He spun around jogging in the one spot, "I'm going to speak to Dream Girl. See if she can help!"

Before anyone could ask any more questions, Bouncing Boy sped off. The remaining three glanced at each other then followed him inside one by one.

* * *

"_KRINN!_" Lightning Lad stormed into the room, ignoring the startled looks from the other Legionnaires on the bridge as he grabbed Cosmic Boy roughly by the top of his costume and pinned him down against the computer console back-first in a controlled slam "What the _sprock_ did you do?"

The other boy flinched a little, then drew himself up and studied his team-mate, his body language more or less saying "You want to hit me, go ahead. I probably deserve it"

"Garth" Star Boy's voice suddenly came from behind him and a hand lightly rested on his shoulder as he shot a cool look at Cosmic Boy "I'm worried about Brin too but let it go"

Lightning Lad snorted and shoved the other founder away from him then turned and stormed out, not trusting himself to speak to Rokk. Right now he needed to calm down and there was only one person capable of helping him with that.

* * *

Brainiac-5 silently walked into his laboratory. Despite the fact one of his best friends was out there in the grip of a known madman some small part of him agreed with why Cosmic Boy hadn't launched any search parties considering they had nothing to go on, no clues no possible location and the galaxy was a big place to make a search without any leads something of a waste of time. Still he hoped to change that.

A pale-skinned girl turned to face him as he entered, an orb-like device with several scanners and wires attached to it sat in the middle of the main table she was standing in front of "Considering I got told what happened, I fixed it up for seeing if we could salvage anything if that's alright. Thought you want to be here to do the actual tests"

"Thank you and no, it's fine with what's happened" the Coluan nodded soberly and took a seat at the computer console "Let's get started"

A few minutes later, Shrinking Violet watched the device Colossal Boy had brought in while the holoprojector crackled, shaking slightly as the power relays sounded like they were going to explode or burst into flames and she quickly switched the laser scanners off in case they were causing it to overload before walking over to where Brainiac-5 was sitting.

Without turning to look at Violet, the robotic teenager's fingers flew over the computer console "Try rerouting the..."

"Brainy" her reply was quiet as she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder "We've already tried everything, the circuitry's fried beyond repair"

"Then we try to salvage the hard-drive" he replied without skipping a beat.

Brainiac-5 remembered when he was first introduced to Timber Wolf, during the mission on Rawl where the rescue mission became one of an entirely different kind. It was that day he saw the darker side of humanity but with a faint light of hope at the end. Something about Dr. Londo admittedly unsettled him no matter how much he tried to deny it. It wasn't the fact that he was a cruel man, he met plenty of people like him during his time as a Legionnaire.

It was like staring in a darker mirror of the Legion, Dr. Londo had as much passion for science and new discoveries as he did but it was left unchecked, Londo forsook all morals that were made to keep all known discoveries as a benefit to society, as a result it cost him the love and trust of the one person alive who depended on him. It didn't require a 12th-Level intellect to know that any scientist, even one on the Legion could have become like Dr. Londo given the right circumstances. He admitted that sometimes even he struggled with the thoughts of abandoning the moral code to push the boundaries of science even further.

Distracting himself from his borderline apocalyptic thoughts, he reminded himself that this was one of his closest friends they were searching for, he was indebted to Brin for helping Superman save his life when his internal computer was fatally malfunctioning, without Timber Wolf acting as a guide he knew that there was a slim chance they would have left the planet in one piece or alive for that matter. How fortunate the item they needed to help restore his sanity happened to be where Timber Wolf was born.

The feral youth was always willing to listen to what he had to say and be trusted to not talk about secrets and to respect boundaries. In his own way helping Brainiac-5 learn about both the good and bad sides of humanity as a whole, he remembered the short conversation they had on Rimbor when he inadvertently revealed his frustration towards Superman and Alexis Luthor.

_"If you feel that strongly about it, why not talk to him?" Brin asked._

_Brainiac-5 gave him a skeptical look, he heaved a sigh 'I should have known he'd be looking at this situation from a very simplistic angle,' he thought bitterly._

_"What am I supposed to tell him? Don't go fraternising with someone who's descended from one of your worst enemies?"_

_"I wouldn't word it like that, look Brainy...the longer you ignore this issue the harder it'll be to confront him about it. Sometimes it's better to follow your instincts."_

Apart from the fact he was a good listener and seemed rather intuitive about certain things despite the fact he held a reputation as being the 'brooding lone-wolf' of the team, Timber Wolf was a better listener than conversationalist, he noted. He did surprise him a few times however, when the feral teenager used his brains instead of brawn to solve a problem, even though Brin was the son of scientists as Brainiac-5 had to remind himself.

There were very few Legionnaires one could work with on required repair jobs or modifications and despite Brin being as poor at chess as he was at that other game, the Coluan admitted it was kind of fun to play against their missing team-mate sometimes, more such than Lightning Lad, with the Winathian having a tendency to become a sore loser thus leading to a need to replace chess boards on a semi-regular basis.

"...Hello? Earth to Brainy?" Shrinking Violet asked, waving a hand in front of him.

"Huh?" the robotic teenager asked.

"I said I've located the hard drive and whether or not to upload to Computo to analyse it." Shrinking Violet explained.

He nodded at her, feeling slightly embarrassed that he lost himself in reminiscing. All Shrinking Violet did was shake her head in an amused fashion as they went back to work.

While she started with the file transfer with the hard-drive she scratched her ear vigorously, did something bite her while in the lab? No, there was _no_ way anything could have gotten through the security defenses Brainiac-5 set up. It wasn't uncommon to see random insects being either repulsed or obliterated by the lab's defences no matter how small they were.

Shrinking Violet turned and saw the back of her friend and fellow colleague bring up multiple scanners to see if there were any possible thing that could be salvaged. She sighed, usually once Brainiac-5 entered one of his severe 'workaholic' moods a dust bomb could go off in the lab and he'd _still_ wouldn't budge.

* * *

Superman sighed and entered the waiting area, he had been summoned to the bridge to fill out a report of the latest bout of combat. He just hoped his distracted replies meant he wouldn't be called back as he had other things on his mind. The group of kids who had brought him to this era over two years ago had almost become a secondary family to him and he was worried but until they knew just where to look...

Spotting Bouncing Boy sitting there alone, he moved to gently give the younger hero's shoulder a comforting squeeze and took a seat next to him "How long?"

"She had herself injected with enough sedative for a ten minute nap. Hope it's enough" the teenager replied.

As they waited, both fell into silence lost in their own thoughts.

Superman bowed his head after a few seconds. From the second he had stepped out of the time-bubble after Brainiac-5 had appeared in Metropolis and explained everything not like the Coluan had needed to do much persuading. It had been good to see the small group of teenagers who had a hand in shaping his career as a superhero again even if they had grown up in more ways than one.

He had missed them, the friendly banter the way they had been willing to learn and adapt to pastimes from his era like a good old-fashioned camping trip and cook-out complete with s'mores, something Bouncing Boy had been all over, along with checkers and a few various board-games that hadn't made it into this century and now, thanks to the plans of a lunatic, their little family was missing a member.

Timber Wolf was the first new Legionnaire he met, though he wished it were under better circumstances. They got a distress call from his father and they looked into it. Superman suddenly felt ill as he remembered consoling the old man after hearing about how the creature in the forest killed his son, only to reveal that the creature _was_ his son. He didn't think any parent could have been so cruel to their child, to betray them like that.

The unsettling thing was how calm he was about it, like it wasn't his fault. Of course, back in the 21st Century there were a few villains he encountered that reminded him of Londo, some of them made him look like a _saint!_ But he never forgot what had happened there that day and commended Timber Wolf's inner strength to not go down the same path as his father. He felt that they shared a bit of a kinship seeing during his time there they were both new to the Legion and learning how to adjust to the sudden change in their lives, but they didn't regret it one bit.

It hurt to feel so helpless despite having all these powers he couldn't do anything than just sit here and wait when one of his closest friends needed it.

Bouncing Boy shifted a little, he hadn't felt this helpless since watching Ferro Lad go to his death and it hurt as much as it did back then even without being leader anymore, this was one of his closest friends he was talking about here. He chortled at a memory of him with a globe educating Brin on where countries were, the feral youth thought that Hawaii was in New Zealand before Bouncing Boy corrected him.

Who else could he pester into watching and making fun of bad werewolf movies with? Superman dubbed them the Legion's MST team, whoever they were...or end up making the best cookies he had tasted. Brin told him it was an old recipe passed down his family for generations but Bouncing Boy didn't care, he just wanted the damn recipe!

Turning his attention to studying his feet, he gave a quiet chuckle on recalling the disaster that had been Brin's first ever piloting lesson and how the cruiser had smashed into the side of the main Science Police headquarters the two had to run for it and after a generous R. J. Brande smoothed the situation over as much as he could. Fortunately with time Timber Wolf became a much more competent pilot. He had been surprised the other teenager hadn't ended up with motion-sickness like he did on the way back from Rawl, though Brin told him he had to take an anti-emetic before he entered any Legion Cruiser, those were Brainiac-5's and Lightning Lad's orders.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't get a vision of what you requested. I don't know where he is" Dream Girl suddenly emerged from the infirmary, not meeting their questioning gazes and her hands balled into fists an edge of guilty frustration crept in her voice like she felt like some of it was her fault partly to thanks to the part she'd played in the tribunal and added quietly "I should have seen this coming"

"Hey, it's okay Dream Girl...we're in the same boat as you, we don't know what to do either." Bouncing Boy tried to console her.

"At least you tried, that's the main thing and don't worry...we _will_ find him" Superman added, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

* * *

Entering Brin's quarters, Tinya found herself drawn to the shelves housing his possessions, her fingers slowly running over each one. The collection of recipe datapads, a sketch-book or two, the tool-kit he used for simple repair jobs or modifying various ships or devices, the few small knick-knacks that he said had belonged to his mother and that...holo-photo of a young woman and a child started to bring a month's-old memory bubbling to the surface.

_"Brin, are you okay? You've been in your room all day,"_

_Getting no answer, she sat onto the bed next to him and glanced at the photo he was looking at, a young and pretty brunette woman was cuddling a small boy in her arms as they seemed to be laughing. Both of them having identical hair and eyes._

_"I-is that what you used to look like? And that's your mom?" Tinya asked quietly._

_Brin nodded, then slowly inhaled through his nostrils._

_"You wanna talk about it?"_

_Brin shook his head, still not looking at her in the eyes._

_"Do you want me to leave?" she asked, getting up._

_He shook his head, Tinya relaxed a little...he doesn't want to talk yet had been isolating himself in here in his room for hours but doesn't want her to go. What does he want? She felt frustrated, then glanced at the photo in his hands as she suddenly got an idea._

_"You know I did that when my Dad died," she started to say, waiting for him to growl at the mention of the word, but when he didn't cautiously continued, "He was a gambler and a bad one too...but he loved us dearly. Mom nearly divorced him because she couldn't stand him wasting all that money. That made him realise he needed professional help to get his life back on track, while he recovered from the addiction he used to take my brother and I out to the zoo and to the floating playground."_

_She paused for a moment thinking back to that day._

_"When we got home from school one day, Mom was the only one at home and told us quietly that Dad died. He had an undiagnosed heart condition but never told anyone because he didn't want us to worry...he wanted us to be happy. Something told me that he knew his life was coming to an end and he dedicated his time to living life to the full...he used gambling as an escape but after a few sessions with his psychologist, he realised that he needed to spend more time with us if he wanted to fill the void in his life."_

_She took a deep breath, lightly dabbing at the tears that started to appear in her eyes._

_"Later Mom found me doing the same thing as you she realised what was wrong, hugged me tightly and we talked about all the good times we had when Dad was alive. She told me that the ones we love never really leave us as long as we remember the happier moments."_

_Tinya paused waiting for Timber Wolf's reaction then placed a hand on his shoulder as she stood up to leave._

_"Wait..."_

_The Bgztlian girl spun around and looked at her friend as he glanced up at her._

_"There was...a cave-in on Zuun when I was younger...Mom was caught in it...being a trained medic she was too busy trying to save the trapped miners that nobody realised the immediate danger both the miners and the rescue team were in..." he struggled to get the words out._

_Tinya paused as she bit her bottom lip and realised what had happened._

_"She didn't make it...did she?"_

_Brin nodded his head as Tinya sat back down slowly._

_"She...would have been 52 today," his voice started to break like he was trying not to cry again._

_Tinya was at a loss for words then gently embraced him. She heard a soft sob as Brin rested his head, gently on her shoulder._

Turning away she found herself facing his bed, it looked like he had got out of it in a hurry and she moved to try to distract herself by making it, her hands closing around his pyjamas as her shoulders shook. Hugging the garments against her, she sank to her knees while trying not to cry. She didn't notice the door opening with a faint hiss.

"Tinya?" came a soft voice.

Falling silent on getting no reply Duo Damsel moved into the room to stop behind her and rested both hands on the older girl's shoulders trying to offer some kind of comfort though she was hurting himself. She deeply regretted casting that vote that caused this terrible incident to happen, now because of a choice she made, their friend who has been close as family to some of them, even to her boyfriend, was now lost to them. Possibly forever.

"You miss him don't you?" she asked softly.

There was a sniffle and a nod as Tinya pushed herself away from her friend to wipe away the tears in her eyes with her fingers.

"Come on, let's go...I've got a feeling that Cosmic Boy going to be calling a meeting soon," Duo Damsel said.

"If you don't mind Lu...I-I would rather be alone for a while" Tinya murmured, she didn't want to see Cosmic Boy right now not with how close she was to breaking his jaw.

"Okay...if you need anything don't hesitate to ask," she placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I _know_ what it's like to lose something you care about,"

Tinya didn't respond but continued staring at her feet as Duo Damsel walked out, Tinya flopped back onto the bed and curled up in a fetal position looking at the stars. There was an odd itch on her forearm as she unconsciously started to scratch it.

* * *

Having teleported straight down to her hospital room Lightning Lad swung the chair around so it was facing backwards and sat down with his arms resting on the back, his gaze fixed on the comatose blonde girl.

"Hey, Imra"

He fought back a wave of anger towards the black-haired witch that caused her to be in a healing coma, Phantom Girl barely held him back before he did something he would have regretted at a later day. It gave him some comfort as she was the only Legionnaire he felt he connected to in such a way that he felt comfortable with revealing his inner most feelings, hoping that she'd be listening to him, somehow.

"You're not going to like this but Cos _really_ messed up and it cost us. Turns out Doctor Londo resurfaced and managed to snatch Timber Wolf from right under some of our team's noses. And without no idea of what sector to search, we can't do much about it until Dawnstar finally returns from active duty on the frontlines."

_'Damn you, Londo'_ Garth thought venomously, lowering his head with a hiss of helpless rage. His anger at that arrogant old geezer flared up in an instant, how dare he call himself a father after what he did to his kid?

They had come a long way since their first meeting when he first fought Brin after he took Imra to his cave to try and establish a way for him to communicate. Always the impulsive one, Lightning Lad shot first as Imra tried to futilely stop him. This led to a brawl between the monster, him and Superman which led to him shocking the monster into unconsciousness. Superman had to hold him back before he could land the killing blow and was immensely thankful he did.

When they had returned there were tensions between him and the newcomer as he saw them spending time together, both Imra and Brin had been quick to reassure him that he had nothing to worry about though he didn't believe it and took to standing between them whenever the situation arose.

Imra became fed up at this and once they had a moment to themselves she flat out told him that Timber Wolf only cared about her as a brother would for a sister, he only saw her frequently because she was using her telepathy to keep the beast within subdued. Garth felt embarrassed over this, once again he misjudged the lycan but was relieved to know Brin didn't hold grudges, except those he felt deserved it.

He had become closer to the other Legionnaire, to the point they saw each other as family and now it was like going over losing Ayla all over again only this time he was more aware of the situation, having only been eight years old when his twin had vanished and then his brother, Mekt abandoned him to pursue his life of crime. But in the years that followed he gained new 'siblings' once he was in the Legion.

Timber Wolf proved to be a brave and trustworthy friend, always with something to prove not only to himself but to everybody else. He wondered if being raised by his father had something to do with it? Garth remembered the time when Superman and Timber Wolf followed him as he decided to reunite with his brother, keeping an eye on him so he didn't do something stupid and he almost did when he discovered that his brother cared more about profit than helping others.

Lightning Lad knew that if it weren't for his friends in the Legion chances are he'd be in Takron Galtos or worse thanks to his impulsive nature.

Suddenly he felt a sting on the back of his neck, with a scowl he slapped it before checking to see if he got whatever got him, nope...huh he must've been imagining things. Absent-mindedly rubbing his neck he wondered if Imra would be able to remember every single conversation he had with her since she was in her healing-coma.

"Lightning Lad?" the familiar voice spoke up behind him.

"Go away, Krinn before I do something I'll regret..." Garth said monotonously.

This unnerved Cosmic Boy as the most passionate Legionnaire spoke with such weariness and apathy.

"I...I wanted to see what I could do to help" the other founder replied, lowering his gaze at his old friend's reaction.

Garth fell into a thoughtful silence for a few moments, getting ready to retort with a _'you've done enough,'_ but remembered that his friends taught him that he needed to think and not always react on his emotions, his reply was quiet but uncharacteristically cold as he rose to his feet, "Call a meeting...and I want _in_ on it this time."

"Who else?"

"_Everyone_ who was on the tribunal, Brainiac-5, Superman and Bouncing Boy, I want to get to the bottom of this!" Garth growled as his scar lit up.

* * *

The kitchen and attached dining hall were mostly deserted. At the back of the room however, a lone figure in blue and red sat at a table, sipping at a bottle of Coki-Cepsi and barely glanced up as a smaller orange and green blur dashed over to him with a quiet "Hi" before he climbed into the seat opposite the clone.

Superman-X just grunted gruffly and took another swig from his drink hoping the younger hero would get the message, that he wanted to be left alone right now.

Chameleon Boy fell silent and lowered his gaze but remained in his seat until the young man put the bottle down and fixed his gaze on the younger Durlan.

"What do you want, kid?"

"Firstly the name's _Cham_ not kid" the reply was quiet like his heart wasn't into the verbal defence and he didn't look up.

Kell just shrugged and eyed him "Like I said, what do you want?"

"Can't I just sit here? the retort was as equally quiet as his first comment.

Superman-X frowned, a little surprised that the younger hero wanted to seemingly sit with him, he was seen either hanging around Timber Wolf or Lightning Lad more and considering what how happened to the other young man.

The clone swilled his drink around in its bottle, a slight stab of guilt creeping in the thought. He had let himself be persuaded to sit in on the recent tribunal due to the lack of active Legionnaires aboard at the time.

"Do you think they'll find him?" Chameleon Boy was studying him now, the clone wasn't exactly the most social person on board but there was something about his attitude, his bearing that reminded the younger Durlan of Timber Wolf. And he was worried for his missing friend the older youth was almost been a big brother figure just like Garth, they had to find him, right they just had to...

"Hope so" Kell muttered, he was kind of missing the feral teenager in his own way as he had been one of the few who seemed to understand him then he eyed the young alien.

Besides being more being more of a fighter than a thinker, Superman-X liked the other young man almost seeing a kindred spirit in Brin. Out of everyone in the Legion he felt that Timber Wolf would understand his situation best, both boys were raised by their parents to be soldiers. The only difference was his robotic parental unit did see and genuinely care for him as a son underneath the guise of a hardened warrior whereas Timber Wolf's father, a human, didn't see past that and only valued him as a weapon. It seemed ironic that a robot could be more 'human' than an actual one.

The room fell silent again as Cham fidgeted awkwardly.

"Heh, I remember the first day I got into the Legion, I ran into him...literally" he eventually replied, a weak smile crossing his face at the memory "I was in a bit of a hurry to report in. Didn't end up looking where I was going and next thing I know I'm on the floor on my back with Timber Wolf turning to see who had crashed into him from behind"

Kell remained silent as he raised an eyebrow and replied with an "And why are you telling me?"

"Because I need to talk to _someone_..." Cham replied quietly, lowering his gaze as his thumbs tapped against each other and his mood seemed to sink a little.

"Why me?"

"I guess because you remind me of Brin and he always listened..." the young alien shrugged.

"The thing is that I'm _not_ him and I don't want you or anyone else thinking I'm going to be a replacement for him." Kell scowled.

"That's not what I meant...I just want someone to talk to and everyone else is either gone or too busy..." Cham replied.

Kell was about to tell him that he's going to the wrong guy for tea and sympathy but looking at the desperate Durlan and remembering how distraught he was over Brin's kidnapping, especially after he had proven his innocence had taken their toll on the kid. He heaved a sigh, who knew that being with a team such as the Legion would start making him soft?

"Fine, continue..." he muttered while sipping his drink.

"Anyway, I was trying to find Lightning Lad so I could get my first assignment he said he wasn't there but he saw how disappointed I looked so he decided to help me look for him in New Metropolis. He managed to find the guy in under an hour in a place where it's easier to get lost than back in Headquarters...I thought it was pretty cool how he was able to pick up one single scent out of billions of other beings." Cham continued then frowned as his comm-belt went off and a quick call for a meeting crackled over it.

"Guess we should go join the others" the young Durlan muttered as he hopped out of his seat.

* * *

The Legionnaires currently on board their mobile base began to trickle into the main meeting hall, some of them pausing as the last time they had been in here they had to pass judgement on their missing team-mate. The two seats right in the middle of the tall circular stand were already occupied by Lightning Lad and Cosmic Boy as the others moved to take their seats.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, Rokk spoke up loud enough for everyone to hear him "I call this meeting to order, you all know about recent events concerning..."

"What's being done to _find_ him?" Chameleon Boy cut in and was instantly on his feet, glaring at the founder.

"Has the device we retrieved from Londo's compound helped?" Colossal Boy inquired as all eyes turned to Brainiac-5 and Shrinking Violet.

"I'm afraid despite all our best efforts the holo-projector was too damaged to get anything useful from it" the Coluan replied, not looking happy.

Colossal Boy sat back looking crestfallen, Duo Damsel sympathetically patted his arm. He turned and smiled at her before wincing with an 'ow' as something stung his thigh. He looked down and tried to inspect himself as if trying to find an insect.

"What's wrong?" Duo Damsel whispered.

"I don't know, I think something...nah it's probably nothing." Colossal Boy dismissed it.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it,"

Duo Damsel lifted an eyebrow in a skeptical way before her attention was diverted to the newest speaker in the meeting.

"So we're just going to sit here and do nothing?" Superman-X shot back, there was a tremendous roar of agreement that followed.

"I think you people should calm down" Blok rumbled just enough to be heard.

"Easy for you to say, where the hell were _you_ when we were on that wild goose chase?" Sun Boy snapped.

The Dryad slumped, regretting what he contributed to the conversation.

"Lay off him hothead, _we_ had to hold down the fort while you lot went off on your own! Oh by the way good job in letting that psycho get Timber Wolf!" Shrinking Violet yelled.

"_Holding down the fort?_ What? Couldn't find any fancier words for 'sitting on your nass' and twiddling your thumbs?' At least we were out doing _something!_" Sun Boy sneered.

Shrinking Violet glared at him in outrage before shooting out of her seat as Sun Boy rose almost as fast scarlet flames starting to flicker in his eyes and fists, a fight was about to start between them before Blok and Star Boy each held back the other.

"Knock it off guys this _isn't_ helping!" Star Boy snapped as he grabbed Sun Boy's arms.

"Agreed, this is not the time nor the place for these meaningless squabbles!" Blok rumbled, as he kept Shrinking Violet's arms pinned.

As quickly as their anger flared it slowly started to dissipate, Blok and Star Boy each slowly released their grips when it became evident that neither Shrinking Violet or Sun Boy would land the first punch that would ignite into a full-on brawl. They resorted to silently glaring at each other with Blok and Star Boy warily looking for any sign their feud would kick up again.

"Are we permitted to _continue?_ Or would you rather turn this into a typical parliamentary hearing?" Brainiac-5 inquired, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Phantom Girl's eyes widened slightly at the brief scuffle that almost started before being quelled almost as quickly, then when the noise in the room had settled down she turned to address the Legionnaire sitting next to her.

"Did you have any dreams about..."

"...No, I already tried" the white-haired girl cut Tinya off, feeling ashamed of herself, she lowered her gaze as everyone's attention swung to her in an instant.

"Big surprise..." Lightning Lad scoffed before he raised an eyebrow then retorted with scorn in his voice, "Maybe you're _not_ as good as you think you are...Madame Mysterious"

A few of the Legionnaires nearest to him groaned as Dream Girl lowered her head further in shame when the issue of her past came up.

"For Grife's sake..." Phantom Girl moaned as she rubbed a temple.

Star Boy glanced over at him and shook his head "Not again..."

Garth seemed to ignore him as Dream Girl continued to look down at her hands with a guilty expression. He gestured to her during his rant, "_No_, that's part of the problem you rely on her too much and look at what happened, _she failed!_"

Star Boy sighed and added quietly "Garth, nobody's perfect."

Lightning Lad turned to glare at him "I know that! But look at what this mistake cost us!"

Cosmic Boy frowned and cut in "Garth it wasn't _all_ Dream Girl's fault!"

Lightning Lad turned to glare at the other founder "You're right Cos, most of the blame falls on you for letting this happen!"

Brainiac-5 frowned then spoke up in an attempt to defuse the situation before it got out of control too much "Lightning Lad, if we sit here continually blaming everyone in the room we won't get anything done. We need to focus on finding where Timber Wolf is and arranging a rescue party."

Having remained quiet until now, Bouncing Boy suddenly thumped the table starting to raise his voice "Brainy's right, this isn't helping"

Garth fell silent for a few seconds then glared at the tribunal members from Cosmic Boy to Tyroc and spat angrily "Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't part of our oath say,_ to aid my fellow Legionnaires in times of peril?_ Not to turn our backs on them if they're facing a crisis? Sprock the only ones who bothered to remember that were Phantom Girl and Chameleon Boy!"

The Coluan frowned "Surely the autopsy reports would have shown it was a clone, nanites and synthetic tissue would be noticeable through their scanners...clones are very unstable they could easily degenerate in a matter of minutes if one isn't too careful."

"I've read through all the autopsy reports and the medical records of Dr. Londo, Brainy. It all checked out, even after they took the body for burial it was still intact. There's a theory that after being stuck inside the morgue for a while it would have delayed the rate of decomposition. We don't know where the body is buried, we were lucky we managed to get an interview with Officer Erin who provided us with all of the copies of the notes and reports." Violet explained.

"Commissioner Norg's not gonna like that," Colossal Boy chortled.

"Like that's ever stopped him" Violet snorted, "It's a wonder how he kept his job for so long,"

"He's very good at what he does, Commissioner Norg may be a hard-nass but he knows a gifted cadet when he sees one,"

"If you're done with your _prattling_, I would very much like to get to the bottom of this before the new year starts," Brainiac-5 snapped while silencing them with a glare.

A quiet murmur spread through the room as the patrons discussed possible theories as to how the renegade doctor could have concocted this elaborate scheme. Superman-X propped his feet up on the top of the chair in front of him ignoring the glare Sun Boy gave him and folded his arms while he mused in silence. His eyebrows twitched as he came to his own conclusion.

"Maybe the Doctor had some help,"

Brainiac-5 turned his chair in the clone's direction "You have some input Superman-X?"

Superman-X nodded and continued "I come from an era where cloning isn't a new brand of technology. In the numerous war zones on Earth and across the galaxy, it's common for geneticists to clone their superior's top soldiers if one dies in battle."

Cosmic Boy paused for a moment or two then replied "Are you saying that Dr. Londo is in league with Imperiex?"

Superman-X glanced at him "It's possible, you have to remember that even though most of it's destroyed, 41st century tech is still more advanced than your tech in many ways and he seems the type for Imperiex to try and employ, this Londo guy reminded me of some of the scientists Imperiex had working for him."

Brainiac-5 nodded "That seems logical, ever since the Great Crisis occurred most of the notes on successful cloning utilised by organisations such as Cadmus were lost and by the sounds of things Londo's managed to solve the premature degeneration problem when geneticists better than him struggled with it."

Bouncing Boy frowned thoughtfully then turned to glance at Rokk "You know, Brainy raised a good point early on, why did you give Timber Wolf get such a speedy trial?"

Cosmic Boy shifted uncomfortably at the question "The Science Police wanted the matter handled fast so they could return to dealing with the current war." then he added quietly "They pointed out to me that we're losing favour in the public view ever since Imperiex showed up. I did all I could to prove Brin's innocence, we had gone through every single shred of evidence more than a dozen times...it was conclusive no matter how many different ways we looked at it and his motive for killing his father was sound."

Rokk paused to take another sip of water then continued.

"Following this, they did some investigating to find eyewitnesses who had seen a section of the tower explode before the city came under attack, they ended up figuring things out from there. At the time Colossal Boy and I were the only Legionnaires on Earth they could speak to when they confronted us about this discovery"

A further, almost uncomfortable silence met his ears as the founding member added quietly "I-I didn't have much of a choice..."

"So you sold one of our own out just because of public appeal!?" Chameleon Boy was on his feet again, glaring at the older teenager on hearing the last part of his comment "How about a vote on letting Cos stay the leader? All in favour of Lightning Lad taking over"

The sudden confession had the other Legionnaires glancing at each other with mixed emotions then a few of them looked like they were about to raise their hands, starting with Phantom Girl.

"_No!_" by now Rokk was on his feet with both fists resting on the table in front of him everyone turning to look at him "I'm _not_ stepping down, I need to fix this"

"Agreed" surprisingly it was Superman who got up to speak next, the Legionnaires' attention turning to him with mild surprise he had been one of Brin's closest friends even as he continued "This _isn't_ the time for a change in leadership. We're already facing a threat far greater than _any_ of us have imagined, one of our own has been taken from us and some of our friends are still recovering from the last assault. We _can't_ afford any more divisions in our ranks. The Legion needs to stand more united than ever now to combat Imperiex's forces and save our friend."

Lightning Lad nodded then quickly stepped in to distract everyone from the voting "Meeting adjourned. Let's focus on actually getting things done, Brin is out there and we _need_ to bring him home"


	5. Chapter 4: Pulling the Strings

**Author's Note:** I'd like to say a very big thank you to Mirror's Mirage (founder of the Star Quill Society that Kayegee and I are a part of, please check out Sovereign of the Storm in the comics section :)) for agreeing to be the official grammar-checker/beta-reader and RapunzelitsaTangled (over on DeviantArt) for letting me use her fanart as the fanfic's cover image.

_Had it really been three months since I had woken up here for the first time?_ Brin mused to himself, bringing up his hand to study where his flight ring had once been.

He was on top of a lone rock with his legs drawn up in a crouching position – a habit he had mostly abandoned two years ago but it was better than sitting on the rough surface of the rock he was perched on. The only movement was a twitch of his pointed ears and the breeze gently moving his hair.

Since his arrival here, he had tried to contact his friends but every time he tried, he just ended up getting Neerg on the line. He knew he could easily take out the scientists and the guards then escape, judging by the look of them he doubted any of them could lift up a mini-vech without help. But something ended up compelling him to stay, was it some part of him wanting to see if his father had really changed for the better?

Faces flashed through his mind and yet he couldn't pin some of them down. Names were starting to escape him, like that girl with a flower-based name...what was it again? Pansy? Primrose? Lily? He sighed and let his thoughts drift elsewhere when he couldn't pin the name down.

Glancing over his shoulder at the compound a few feet behind him, he frowned. Considering who was back there maybe he should just walk off and take his chances out in the wilderness. Despite his father's sudden change in attitude, the fact he was acting like he used to be back when they had lived on Zuun, it was hard to put the past behind him, to trust the older man once again.

But at the same time what else did he have? His closest friends seemed to have abandoned him. Some small fear that they had given up on him thanks to him losing control and attacking them was beginning to creep into his mind.

Brin's ears twitched and the sense that something was wrong fell over him. He looked up, frowning and sniffed the air. The sky was beginning to cloud over in the distance and had covered at least one of the two moons that decorated the skyline of the planet. A warm breeze drifted across the desert indicating another dust storm.

The harsh constant storms were probably one of the reasons that this nameless, unchartered planet was heavily devoid of life other that those living in the compound. The other being when the soil wasn't desert sand it was infertile proving useless to any colonists and probably why no-one or nothing else lived here. The ironic thing was the place actually kind of made him miss the lush jungles of Rawl. There were places to hunt and hide whenever he wanted...Rawl had actually been paradise for him, the perfect training ground for him to hone his newfound powers. The only thing wrong with it was the lab and how he acquired his abilities.

Brin wondered if his father had been forced to flee here when the United Planets expanded their borders to include the jungle world after the Legion had informed them of it. Looking up as he tried to locate which direction the sand storm was coming from, he noticed the faint glimpses of three of the five moons through the haze that the heat of the day was making.

He had been advised to seek the shelter of the compound and the dome that sheltered it during such events but his father would have everyone rushing around and securing the more delicate equipment and all that movement and people shouting to each other would end up giving him a migraine.

Abandoning the rock, he headed back to his home, one fist hitting the button that closed the main entrance once he had crossed the threshold. As he walked in to the main section of the compound, Brin glanced down at his current outfit - a mostly black suit with long sleeves and white lines running through it at different points, a present from his father. The suit itself was based off Durlan and ancient Martian technology designed to change with the wearer. He had no idea where he had chosen to wear this today considering he had other civilian clothes but something had made him reach for it.

As he drifted towards the kitchen and entered the room, his stomach growled. Brin mused over making sandwiches then settled for some fruit, his thoughts flashing back to the first few days at this new compound. He had refused to eat anything until one of the concerned scientists had to eat the food to prove that it was safe, Brin thought his father may have drugged the food with strange substances like he did on Rawl.

Stepping out of the room, he started walking to his bedroom to collect something to read when movement coming from the other direction caught his attention and he paused, silently watching one of the scientists working under Londo approaching him.

"There you are. Your father wants to see you out in the garden."

Brin nodded at the words; he should have known his father's personal laboratory was one of the areas off-limits to him. Not that he minded visiting the garden area; it was nice to have somewhere quieter to go when he needed it.

"Thanks, guess I'll go see what he wants." Brin replied and changed course, walking to where the garden dome was. The construct had been the result of all the scientists wanting to see something other than sand, soil and rocks, resulting in the dome being set up at the back of the the compound.

By the time he had arrived, he had finished the fruit and carefully licked the traces of juice from his claws. Stepping inside, Brin glanced around, all the plants were in artificial containers yet he bypassed the flowers and headed straight for the fruit and vegetable section. That patch had sparked an interest in learning to grow things like that. It would be nice to have fresh ingredients for his recipes.

Moving to check the Terran tomatoes for ripeness briefly, he froze as a flicker of movement from behind caught his attention and an all-too familiar voice spoke up, making him to growl quietly.

"There you are, son."

Brin slowly turned around to face his father and folded his arms across his chest as he gave him a skeptical look.

"One of your scientists said you wanted to see me. What do you want?"

"Come now Brin. A father doesn't always need a reason to spend some time with his son, does he?"

"Forgive me," Brin retorted with sarcasm heavy in his voice. "But the whole 'spending time with you' thing normally involved me being unconscious and shackled to a metal table while you did Rao-knows-what to me all in the name of science."

Mar sighed and was silent for a moment, absently polishing his glasses on his lab coat. "I assure you those days are behind me. I realise now that what I did was wrong...I'm not asking you to forgive me. I don't believe I can forgive myself for what I did to you but...I just want to know you better as a person, there's nothing ulterior about my motives apart from wanting to know you and perhaps in some way...atone for my past actions."

Before he could say anything further, Londo had sat down on the nearest bench, indicating for Brin to take a seat next to him. The teenager eyed the box that he knew held holo-photos, a sense of curiosity and nostalgia about which ones it held reluctantly driving him to take up the offer to sit down.

Silence reigned for a few moments as the older man handed Brin the selection of holo-photos yet the teenager didn't seem in a hurry to look at them then he activated the box, the first picture being one of two all-familiar people standing at a wedding altar. Not much had changed between them except his father had fewer lines on his face and was actually looking genuinely happy, he had jet black hair with the familiar white streak running through it, it was slightly longer than it was now. His mother was in a beautiful pale orange wedding dress that brought out her amber eyes, her long dark chestnut hair fell in waves past her shoulders, while his father opted for a simple white tuxedo with a teal tie.

"We met in college and I eventually fell in love with her despite my own father's lack of support. He didn't approve of her as my family were very conservative and ruled by years of tradition that started when Zuun was first colonised. He hated her merely because she was from the Southern area of Zuun and when it was first colonised, the rich and poor moved to different areas on the planet. The poorer people opted for the tropical, jungle-like conditions of the south while the rich were able to utilise the vast plains and the mines that dominated the north."

Brin slowly looked up at his father as a question that he had never got a proper answer about resurfacing, his tongue sliding out to run over his upper lip before he asked quietly: "Why did we leave Zuun?"

"We had to leave because if we didn't you would have ended up working in the mines until your death."

"Why?"

Mar seemed to hesitate, but one look in his son's eyes compelled him to reveal a secret he held from him long ago.

"You were born with the metagene, and metabeings on Zuun were needed as they survived longer in the mines than those without the gene. Not that stopped your mother, mind you." He added with a small wistful smile that actually seemed genuine. "Ever since she was young she had a desire to help others. She showed compassion even towards those who didn't deserve it. She was willing to do whatever it took to help people, and you were her entire world."

"The first time she laid eyes on you, it was as if you had an instant connection...it was one I felt particularly envious about because while she found a balance between work and family. I couldn't and I missed out so much in your life...one of my biggest regrets was never seeing you grow up. I didn't realise what I've missed out until it was too late, one of the most important people who I've met, loved and vowed to spend the rest of my life with had been taken from me."

Brin just listened as a mix of emotions mostly confusion and anger flashed across his face, remaining silent as his ears twitched. He watched his father as he paused for a few seconds as the older man lent forward to rest his elbows on his knees with his hands up under his chin then continued quietly.

"I lost your mother to the mines...there's not a day that goes by that I don't miss her. Brin, I wasn't going to lose you down there too."

Even as he took those words in, his eyes widened slightly as he came across a holo-photo close-up of his mom. After a few seconds, Brin felt one hand starting to come up, the clawed fingers hovering in front of Kanna's face as he took it in, a permanent reminder of his father's desire to create a living weapon no matter the cost.

The man sitting beside him may be family but could he truly ever be forgiven for that, what he had done? When it boiled down to it, how did he know his father wouldn't end up using him for whatever purpose the older scientist wanted in the end?

"Is there something wrong?" Mar asked him.

Lowering his hand, Brin's eyes closed as he asked quietly. "Why should I trust you? For three years for my life I was nothing but a science project to you, how do I know you're truly changed? If you loved Mom as much as you claimed to have done, why did you do this to me?"

Despite the hurt look he outwardly adopted at his son's words, Londo found a wave of impatience over the lack of trust creeping in.

"Brin, I -"

The scientist broke off, never getting the chance to finish what he was going to say. Brin's ears perked up before the faint sound of sirens drifted over from the main section of the compound as one of the guards hurried into the garden dome then over to the other two current occupants.

"What is happening?"

"Sir, the building has been compromised by young metabeings. They fit the description of the Legion of Superheroes. We've been sent out to neutralise the threat."

"The Legion? How-" Brin exclaimed.

Dr. Londo motioned for his son to be quiet and turned to the guard.

"How many?"

"About four, there could be more - we have all the guards scouring the building. We've been advised to escort you and your son off the premises seeing you two are the likely targets."

"Escort my son to safety but I must remain here."

"Sir, it's not-"

"I know it's not safe! But if the Legion are here there's a chance they could endanger the entire planet! There are plenty of unstable elements secured here and they may inadvertently trigger a disaster that could kill us all!"

The guard paused for a moment before sighing heavily knowing full well that Londo was not the kind of man to budge on a life-risking decision.

"You can accompany us to secure your work, but do not interfere with ours." the guard warned.

The older scientist nodded and turned to his son, "Go with these men to the evacuation area...I won't be long," then Londo was gone, following the guard to the back in the main compound.

* * *

The guard warily stood next to Londo, an alarm bleeped on his intercom as the man nearly jumped out of his skin. He was meant to protect the civilian scientists living here but at the same time he had no idea which Legionnaires were loose in the building.

Despite being paid for this, he was a little nervous about confronting them because of that lack of knowledge but being arrested beat being blown to kingdom come.

"ETA's 3 minutes...you finished there?"

"I'm almost done I just need to initiate the lockdown sequence for the entire sector."

"How long will that take!?"

"If you would stop asking stupid questions, it will be finished shortly before they arrive!"

"I hope you're right about this..."

"Just focus on your job and let me do mine!" Londo snapped.

The room descended into an uneasy silence, the guard gripped his weapon tightly aiming it at the door. Dr. Londo's fingers hurriedly flew over the holographic screens. He had nearly finished entering the last few codes to activate the locks on the three lesser laboratories when a booming sound ripped through the room. The guard hastily tackled Londo to the ground before a large piece of debris went flying and struck the touch pad causing it to explode.

Londo didn't have time to snarl a cursed oath as he was coughing from the smoke and ash that poured through the machine. He felt a weight literally being lifted off his shoulders as the guard rose and took a few cautious steps forward. Londo rose slowly, still spluttering from the smoke. He couldn't see a damned thing thanks to the guard's foolhardy tackle - the impact had made his glasses fly off.

His fingers flying blindly over the floor, trying to find where the glasses could have landed. He noticed a faint yellow glimmer near a large piece of twisted metal. Not wasting another moment, Londo lunged for them and hastily put them on the bridge of his nose. There was a long crack in one of the lenses but they still functioned.

"Halt or I'll...GAHK!"

The voice was cut off by the sound of electricity and there was a dull thud near him. Londo quickly scrambled to his feet, ignoring the screaming pain that wracked through his aged frame. He squinted as four shadows started to take shape through the smoke.

"Dr. Mar Londo...you are under arrest by order of the United Planets."

* * *

Seconds ticked into minutes. Wondering where his father was and why the alarms in the main part of the compound were still blaring faintly, Brin got up from his seat then broke into a run, leaving the evacuation area and heading inside then stopped in one of the corridors his ears twitching as the sounds of familiar voices came from around the corner.

Colossal Boy had stepped forward. "You and Brin are both under arrest, Doctor. The Science Police are right behind us but we've offered to take Timber Wolf in ourselves. He was one of us after all."

The older scientist stepped back, looking startled by the comment. "What? He already proved he was innocent. Why do you continue to prosecute him for a crime you know he didn't do?"

The giant teenager continued. "For the murder yes but he still faces the charges of assault and resisting arrest. Either way he's going to Glacier Point."

"In that case, I believe I can counter that with kidnapping charges. You took my son from me."

Shrinking Violet was the next to speak up, her gaze lowered like she wasn't entirely happy about this. "That's neither here nor there...we're just here to take Timber Wolf back."

"He's not going anywhere with you. I thought you were his friends?"

"Fine, if that's your answer, we'll do this by force then." Colossal Boy replied.

"You can try." Londo shot back.

Colossal Boy sighed and turned to the other three, his training kicking in. "Search the building, and find Timber Wolf."

Violet nodded in his direction as the young man stepped around the corner."No need, looks like he came to us."

Phantom Girl stepped forward, eyes widening slightly. "Brin? Is that really you?"

He remained silent, his ears flicking back as his gaze travelled between his father and his team-mates, as he shifted, a confused look on his face. His gaze travelled over the four Legionnaires present, lingering a few seconds longer on Garth and Tinya as if seeing if either of them would stand up for him or say that this was all some kind of joke.

Lightning Lad took a single step backwards, turning his gaze to the wall with an expression that looked like he was disgusted with himself.

Colossal Boy moved forward a bit, looking slightly uncomfortable about all this as he added. "It doesn't have to be this way Brin. Just don't make this harder than it already is."

Londo moved to stand between his son and the other teenagers even as Colossal Boy grew in height and reached for the scientist. The older man glanced over his shoulder. "Run, Brin! Save yourself!"

Brin's face twisted into a snarl before he grunted in pain and felt his body shifting. He dropped onto his knees, clutching his head in pain as his face shifted into a more wolf-like one with a muzzle. His hair had grown longer and more wild to the point of resembling a tail while a collar the same coloring as his outfit now sat around his neck.

"Brin! You've got to snap out of it, please come with us." Tinya took a step forward, watching him pace to and fro before she glared at Londo.

Brin's eyes narrowed as he scanned each Legionnaire then moved, having chosen the first target. Whamming into the tallest of the teenagers as he stumbled backwards and fell, he adopted an almost sitting position on Colossal Boy's upper chest raising his fists and smashing them down into the rib-cage again and again a crunching sound accompanying each blow as the bigger teenager suddenly jerked, a trickle of blood running out of his mouth and down the side of his face as his eyes slid shut and his breathing slowed and after a few moments stopped.

"NO!" a yell came from behind him then Brin's ears twitched and a bolt of electricity blasted him off the body as the smell of singed fur drifted around the corridor.

A few feet away, Phantom Girl's eyes widened in horrified shock and she began to back into a wall both hands over her mouth and shaking her head like she couldn't believe what she was witnessing.

Feeling someone poking around his back as if they were searching for a pressure point, the wolf snarled and began to buck, then thrust backwards in a controlled slam, his back meeting the wall before he swung around, using scent to detect the stunned girl. Raising a front paw, he brought it down in one particular spot with all his strength as the shriek was cut off.

"MURDERER!" Lightning Lad thundered, angrily unleashing a strong electrical blast at the wolf, driving him back as he advanced.

Suddenly Brin lashed out at the other youth with full force, catching the Winathian in the side of the face as his head jerked to one side violently, a snap accompanying the motion as the boy collapsed into a heap - head now at an awkward angle and eyes wide and unseeing.

A flicker of movement from behind him made Brin spin around as he found himself looking down at Phantom Girl. She backed away with her eyes wide with shock and hands held out in front of her, trying to show she was no threat to no avail. He snarled and lashed out with both sets of claws. She stumbled back as he loomed over her, blood trickling from the large deep gash in her lower torso even as she gasped for breath.

"Please! Please don't do this..." she managed to get out, eyes fixed on her best friend before a vicious slash to the throat ended her struggle for air.

Silence fell as Brin dropped back onto all fours, staring at the other teenagers scattered around the corridor.

The beast focused on them, panting as he reverted back, a single howl echoing around the corridor. Brin just knelt there silently, eyes wide with guilt as he took in the dead bodies then started shaking, hands coming up to rest on both sides of his head as he rocked back and forth. He couldn't believe it, the rage had overcame him again.

And this time, it had cost him everything.

A pair of hands gently rested on his shoulders as if offering comfort "Brin...it's all right son...You had no choice..."

He ignored his father as three of Londo's assistants appeared at the end of the corridor. Londo beckoned them forward and only stepped back once they were in front of Brin.

"What happened?"

"These unfortunate children tried to take matters into their own hands," the older scientist replied, shaking his head in what seemed to be regret. "Rel, Qian, please take Brin somewhere to rest, the poor lad is traumatised..."

"Won't he need something to help him calm down? I don't think he's gonna sleep easy tonight." Rel noted, eying the bodies littering the corridor as both younger doctors pulled the unresisting teenager onto his feet.

"No. Just take him back to his room. I'll be along to check on him in a moment." Londo replied quietly then waited until they had gone before adding. "Karth, you're in charge of removing the bodies and decontaminating the area," then the older scientist turned to slowly walk away.

Barely glancing over his shoulder as the other two scientists helped Brin out of that particular corridor, Karth glanced around and frowned on hearing a low moan from the nearest room and moved to check it out. One of the security team lay face-down on the floor twitching. Karth moved to the unconscious man and cautiously rolled him onto his back. He yelped as a small electric charge ran through him.

"I need a med-bot up here - got someone in need of a trip to the the infirmary and a clean-up team would be nice too,"

* * *

Entering his bedroom, Brin would have collapsed if not for the two scientists supporting him. The faint scent of blood on his hands wafted up to his nose and he winced, his stomach roiling as he automatically replayed what he had done in his head.

He wanted to be sick - after nearly killing Tinya twice he had actually done it. And then there were the others...how could he face the rest of the team ever again? Oh Grife, he had really done it this time. There was no going back even if they did find him.

_Garth's neck snapping like a twig._

_"Murderer!"_

_The larger teenage boy jerking as his ribs shattered under the barrage of blows._

_"Please! Please don't do this..."_

_Squashing the smallest one like she was nothing more than a bug._

_"I make this solemn pledge; to use my powers for good, to fight for justice and protect the innocent, to aid my fellow Legionnaires in times of peril..."_

_Tinya's now sightless eyes staring up at him...face permanently frozen in terror._

Brin barely noticed Rel and Qian leaving the room then leaned forward, unable to stop himself he doubled over and vomited. The stress of everything that happened to him today had finally caught up to him. The Legion had given him everything; a family, a home, friends and this is how he ended up repaying them. By killing them. He scooted himself backwards slightly as he curled up into a fetal position on the floor. A wave of disgust at himself and his actions sweeping over him.

The sense of solitude was much worse than it had been on Rawl.

He had everything but now he has nothing left...

* * *

Pressing all four fingers and his thumb on the scanner next to the door so the specialised lock could read the prints, a click followed and the door opened. Londo stepped inside the small private communications room just off his main laboratory. The door automatically slid shut after him, making the room sound-proof. It was a necessary step to prevent Brin from overhearing any of the conversations that went on in here.

A monitor system had been set up against one wall with a single chair in front of it. The doctor slid into the seat, reaching for the detachable microphone and pulling it free with a little effort, before switching on the monitor.

"Why do you contact us and what do you want?" The communications operator demanded, his voice crackling over the speakers.

"I need to speak to Imperiex."

After a few moments, the armoured alien appeared on the screen, not looking in a good mood. "I hope this is a status report,"

The scientist nodded and replied. "Indeed. It proved to be a long and difficult process for the subject to overcome his trust issues. To...speed the process we chose to place certain phrases in his mind to trigger the transformations. As such we needed some extra time to implant them. The trial happened today."

Imperiex frowned, looking like a lack of good news would further his bad mood over the loss of the Tachyon Cannon. "...And the result?"

Londo nodded. "It was a success. The trigger phrase worked perfectly, proven by the fact that none of the clones survived the encounter. He is ready."

"It's about time, Doctor. My patience was wearing thin. One of my...allies decided to defect over a little girl. I just hope your son won't make _you_ have a similar change of heart."

* * *

_End of Chapter 5_


	6. Fate is in your hands

Temporary Author's Note

I'm looking for a replacement co-writer for this story, please contact me if you're interested.


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